Participatory Theatre for the Rights of Women & Girls - Nepal

3 Phases.

• Phase one introduced participatory methodology. Participants explored their own attitudes to gender and made performances based on personal stories. These were performed in a local community in the village of Pharping.
• Phase two followed participants to the regions where they were based and worked entirely within communities taking the process of research from the community into performances which reflected and played back to them their concerns.
• Phase three will focus on creating a small team of Nepalese performers/facilitators from those who have followed the three phases and shown paticular aptitude and understanding of the processs which has been evolving to suit the particular circumstances in Nepal. They will provide a national resource/pool of expertise and training. A manual will also be compiled collaboratively during this third phase by participants who will be the best advisers on how best to communicate the process to their peers in Nepal.

Development Issues
Rights, Women.

The British Council in Nepal identified a need to introduce a participatory approach to street theatre practitioners to balance their tendency for performances to ‘lecture' their audiences. This top-down, message bearing theatre is typical of early practices in Theatre for Development in Asia and Africa and is still commonly practiced by local street theatre performers. While many of the NGOs that commission their work remain satisfied with this approach, most of the International development agencies have found that a more people-centred approach to development work is more effective in generating understanding, social action and change.